The possibility of running Android on a Nintendo Switch has always been a source of discussion in the scene since its early days. Some are favourable to the idea, pointing to the Tegra X1 SoC at the heart of the console which is already found in other Android devices (not taking into account the customizations commissioned by Nintendo) and how such a port would both expand the console's capabilities and its software library. Others reject it, citing how many other devices would be able to do the same job in a better way without requiring any software modifications. Nevertheless, so far all those arguments have been the product of speculation, however it seems things may change soon as the developer Max Keller, also known as "langer hans", has shown a video of an unofficial Android port running on a Switch.

While we've already been teased with small details of such a port in the past, for example see this tweet made by @natinusala not too long ago, it's indeed the first time we're able to see a sneak peek of it in action. The video is linked down below and it showcases the OS's home screen, a couple applications including a WebKit browser test, switching between portrait and landscape mode and working WiFi & Bluetooth. Still, the GPU drivers don't behave properly at the moment which causes stuttering during operation.

Failed to fetch tweet https://twitter.com/langer_hans/status/1099436381791752192​

The poster is already known for other projects, mainly for modding other Android ROMs, however it underlines that most of the work has been done by another developer known as Billy Laws (ByLaws) who has already posted a device tree for the Switch on his GitLab account (link in the sources below). There is currently no public release nor ETA but this should come as no surprise as it's evident the port needs some work before it can be called usable.

What do you think? Are you excited about an Android port for the Switch or do you dismiss it as being just a gimmick?

Source

 

[landysmods]

If it could still play Switch games, I'd be interested. If not, why would I need another android device?

It would probably be used like Lakka, just having to reboot to a different exploit.
Could use one SD card for Atmosphere, and one for Android

 

[ferret7463]

so after reading this.... before i'd personally would buy this over priced tablet that Nintendo slaped their logo on. I think "IF" i wanted something like the Switch. I'd just buy a good Tablet with a blue tooth controller and install a Switch emulator when they refine it.

 

[Deleted User]

so after reading this.... before i'd personally would buy this over priced tablet that Nintendo slaped their logo on. I think "IF" i wanted something like the Switch. I'd just buy a good Tablet with a blue tooth controller and install a Switch emulator when they refine it.

Then you will need a Tablet with a Nvidia Tegra X1 or better processor. I personally don't think, that there would be a real Nintendo Switch Emulator for Android (except MonoNX, which doesn't have Graphics support and i don't think that it would ever support Games). And even if it would support Games, you would need a very powerfull Device to get 3-9FPS)

Play Nintendo Switch homebrew (and possibly games) on any Android device! (assuming you have an ARM64 or 64-bit x86 processor)

 

[milkydude12]

Looking at this "https://gitlab.com/ByLaws/android_device_nintendo_switch" I'm curious as to weather anyone here could possibly compile it and maybe make a tutorial on how to get it working XD. I've given it a go, and can't get it working for the life of me :S

 

[Shrike]

Looking at this "https://gitlab.com/ByLaws/android_device_nintendo_switch" I'm curious as to weather anyone here could possibly compile it and maybe make a tutorial on how to get it working XD. I've given it a go, and can't get it working for the life of me :S

I don't get why devs don't use automatic builds like with dozer.
I mean come on we all have the same hardware anyways... there is no point in each compiling their own payload.
Just build one and upload it for the "normal" user to use.

But yeah.. If there is a pre-build payload to download and/or a tutorial how to do it, I'm definitely in.

 

[RattletraPM]

Looking at this "https://gitlab.com/ByLaws/android_device_nintendo_switch" I'm curious as to weather anyone here could possibly compile it and maybe make a tutorial on how to get it working XD. I've given it a go, and can't get it working for the life of me :S

That's a device tree, aka a list of configs, settings, metadata and whatnot used by the kernel to work properly. It's one of the most important things to make when porting Android (or an AOSP-based ROM) to a target system but it's not enough alone to boot it.

I don't get why devs don't use automatic builds like with dozer.
I mean come on we all have the same hardware anyways... there is no point in each compiling their own payload.
Just build one and upload it for the "normal" user to use.

But yeah.. If there is a pre-build payload to download and/or a tutorial how to do it, I'm definitely in.

They may be thinking the build is not stable yet so they are waiting a bit more to iron issues out. We've already seen the pretty obvious GPU driver issue but they may be more under the hood that weren't shown in the video. Speculation, I know, but hey - the dev said the OS wasn't able to get past the boot animation not even a week ago and this is the first time we've seen it doing so properly, there are bound to be weird issues and bugs. Once it's stable enough we'll be able to sink our teeth into it and maybe we'll also get unstable/nightly builds.

In a nutshell: patience, patience!

 

[MK73DS]

I can tell you. They are optimized to the specific hardware of the Switch while Android emulators have to run on multiple completely different Android devices.

I can play DS games on a single core 1GHz Android device at full speed. Show me one DS emulator fo the Switch able to run games at full speed !

The emulators on Android are more optimized because they were developed for a longer time and with lower-end devices in mind. Of course, in a perfect world everything would work better on the Switch because it will be specific to its hardware, but we don't live in a perfect world and all I can see is that emulators on Android are far better than everything we have on the Switch.

That being said, this does mean nothing if great GPU drivers can't be implemented on the Switch :/

 

[stick267]

I can tell you. They are optimized to the specific hardware of the Switch while Android emulators have to run on multiple completely different Android devices.

If we're talking Retroarch, is this true? I don't think those emulators are developed specifically for the Switch. They're ported from other versions that were designed to work on multiple hardware/software setups.

 

[lordelan]

If we're talking Retroarch, is this true? I don't think those emulators are developed specifically for the Switch. They're ported from other versions that were designed to work on multiple hardware/software setups.

Obviously m4xw does adjustments to optimize it for the Switch.

I can play DS games on a single core 1GHz Android device at full speed. Show me one DS emulator fo the Switch able to run games at full speed !

The emulators on Android are more optimized because they were developed for a longer time and with lower-end devices in mind. Of course, in a perfect world everything would work better on the Switch because it will be specific to its hardware, but we don't live in a perfect world and all I can see is that emulators on Android are far better than everything we have on the Switch.

That being said, this does mean nothing if great GPU drivers can't be implemented on the Switch :/

This has nothing to do with Android being so great. DS emulators didn't run at "full speed" when they were released on Android you know? It takes time.

 

[MK73DS]

This has nothing to do with Android being so great. DS emulators didn't run at "full speed" when they were released on Android you know? It takes time.

Android is so great because there are already plenty of emulators, not because it's Android. Furthermore, none of the current DS emulators for the Switch will be as fast as Drastic, because Drastic is made from scratch with the ARM architecture in mind. This is a very huge amout of work, and I'm sure nobody will make that for the Switch (that's partially why Drastic is paid app). The emulators are there, why do you want laggy ones ?

 

[lordelan]

Android is so great because there are already plenty of emulators, not because it's Android. Furthermore, none of the current DS emulators for the Switch will be as fast as Drastic, because Drastic is made from scratch with the ARM architecture in mind. This is a very huge amout of work, and I'm sure nobody will make that for the Switch (that's partially why Drastic is paid app). The emulators are there, why do you want laggy ones ?

I don't know how this turned out being me against Android on the Switch (always loved the idea) but to answer your question:
It's still "cooler" to have everything in one place and since you'll never be able to play the Switch games on Android (don't point me to MonoNX please), Horizon is the place to be.

In other words: Why would I want to reboot my console, to boot Android, when I can have DS emulation in Horizion as well? And this is already being worked on (look for melonDS core in the RetroArch thread).
Sure, Drastic is super and I spent many hours using it on my smartphone but I'm pretty sure we will see full speed DS emulation on the Switch soon™.

 

[MK73DS]

I don't know how this turned out being me against Android on the Switch (always loved the idea) but to answer your question:
It's still "cooler" to have everything in one place and since you'll never be able to play the Switch games on Android (don't point me to MonoNX please), Horizon is the place to be.

I agree, I don't want to replace my Switch with an Android tablet. I want to have both. In fact, I want my Switch to be able to do as many things as I want, and replacing an Android tablet is a very big thing
Imagine, you just have to switch your SD card to be able to have a full-fledged android device, while still keeping all of your Switch library on the other one.

I understand your point, I like to have everything in one place too, but that's precisely why I want Android on the Switch : I won't need my Android tablet anymore, I'll have my Switch and my tablet in one single device

 

[lordelan]

I agree, I don't want to replace my Switch with an Android tablet. I want to have both. In fact, I want my Switch to be able to do as many things as I want, and replacing an Android tablet is a very big thing
Imagine, you just have to switch your SD card to be able to have a full-fledged android device, while still keeping all of your Switch library on the other one.

I understand your point, I like to have everything in one place too, but that's precisely why I want Android on the Switch : I won't need my Android tablet anymore, I'll have my Switch and my tablet in one single device

Well I'm with you with this. I'd like to have everything on my Switch as well and there's no need to replace my 4 years old Android tablet now that the Switch might receive a decent port in the future.
But I don't think you need to swap cards (except you want to). With Painless Linux, Ubuntu and Lakka for example you can have a small Linux partition on your SD card while keeping the rest in FAT32 for Horizon.
This way you can even use the directory settings in RetroArch Horizon and those in Lakka (which in fact is RetroArch as well) to point both to the same folders on your FAT32 partition.
This way you can enjoy your roms, savegames, thumbnails and so on from both operating systems while having them only once on your SD card.
I don't use Lakka but it's possible.

 

[Grand-Master]

View attachment 158796​

The possibility of running Android on a Nintendo Switch has always been a source of discussion in the scene since its early days. Some are favourable to the idea, pointing to the Tegra X1 SoC at the heart of the console which is already found in other Android devices (not taking into account the customizations commissioned by Nintendo) and how such a port would both expand the console's capabilities and its software library. Others reject it, citing how many other devices would be able to do the same job in a better way without requiring any software modifications. Nevertheless, so far all those arguments have been the product of speculation, however it seems things may change soon as the developer Max Keller, also known as "langer hans", has shown a video of an unofficial Android port running on a Switch.

While we've already been teased with small details of such a port in the past, for example see this tweet made by @natinusala not too long ago, it's indeed the first time we're able to see a sneak peek of it in action. The video is linked down below and it showcases the OS's home screen, a couple applications including a WebKit browser test, switching between portrait and landscape mode and working WiFi & Bluetooth. Still, the GPU drivers don't behave properly at the moment which causes stuttering during operation.

https://twitter.com/langer_hans/status/1099436381791752192​

The poster is already known for other projects, mainly for modding other Android ROMs, however it underlines that most of the work has been done by another developer known as Billy Laws (ByLaws) who has already posted a device tree for the Switch on his GitLab account (link in the sources below). There is currently no public release nor ETA but this should come as no surprise as it's evident the port needs some work before it can be called usable.

What do you think? Are you excited about an Android port for the Switch or do you dismiss it as being just a gimmick?

Source

This is such great new man!, i think this will open much more possibilities on how the hardware of the switch can be used in favor for better things in homebrew to come as the Custom chip Tegra X1 GPU is based on Android, there could be better things to come! Hope someday it get its release!

 

[Deleted User]

I agree, I don't want to replace my Switch with an Android tablet. I want to have both. In fact, I want my Switch to be able to do as many things as I want, and replacing an Android tablet is a very big thing
Imagine, you just have to switch your SD card to be able to have a full-fledged android device, while still keeping all of your Switch library on the other one.

I understand your point, I like to have everything in one place too, but that's precisely why I want Android on the Switch : I won't need my Android tablet anymore, I'll have my Switch and my tablet in one single device

With Android you can turn the Switch into a Multimedia Device and with Linux you can use the Switch as a portable Linux Workstation. With all these possibilitys, the Switch would be the Ultimate Homebrew Mashine. The Hackers are really fast! First Linux and now Android. Impressive how one Misstake from Nvidia can lead to so many possibilitys.

 

[milkydude12]

That's a device tree, aka a list of configs, settings, metadata and whatnot used by the kernel to work properly. It's one of the most important things to make when porting Android (or an AOSP-based ROM) to a target system but it's not enough alone to boot it.


They may be thinking the build is not stable yet so they are waiting a bit more to iron issues out. We've already seen the pretty obvious GPU driver issue but they may be more under the hood that weren't shown in the video. Speculation, I know, but hey - the dev said the OS wasn't able to get past the boot animation not even a week ago and this is the first time we've seen it doing so properly, there are bound to be weird issues and bugs. Once it's stable enough we'll be able to sink our teeth into it and maybe we'll also get unstable/nightly builds.

In a nutshell: patience, patience!

Thanks for the explanation! Sorry I wasn't aware that it was just a device tree..... I thought it was files that could be compiled to boot android.

 

[IncredulousP]

This is cool and all, but why though? What good reasons are there for this? It seems like such a pain for limited performance when there are much cheaper and better alternatives.

 

[MK73DS]

This is cool and all, but why though? What good reasons are there for this? It seems like such a pain for limited performance when there are much cheaper and better alternatives.

Because 1) It's fun 2) If acceptable performance is achievable it will be very practical 3) Android is a very good handheld OS

 

[IncredulousP]

Because 1) It's fun 2) If acceptable performance is achievable it will be very practical 3) Android is a very good handheld OS

Fair enough. Personally, I would just stick to a raspberry pi unless significant emulation is developed that runs on Android switch.

 

[MK73DS]

Fair enough. Personally, I would just stick to a raspberry pi unless significant emulation is developed that runs on Android switch.

I agree with you, I strongly hope decent GPU driver will be available to the Switch. If so, this will be the truly ultimate gaming console, being able to play everything from the NES to the Swtich (except the Wii U but all Wii U games are ported to the Switch sooo ... :3)